Obama, Putin in awkward G-20 handshake moment

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed President Barack Obama with a smile and a handshake to the Group of 20 summit, in one of the most closely watched greetings of international diplomacy.

The 15-second exchange at the entrance to St. Petersburg's splendid Constantine Palace drew widespread media attention as a potential telltale sign of relations between the United States and Russia.

The exchange was their only planned one-on-one appearance at the summit in the midst of tensions between the two leaders over Syria and Russia's grant of asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.